Vertical Technologies Solutions Group
Dan Pallone and business partner Carl Dugart have worked at a local Information Technology company for years. They started Vertical Technologies Solutions Group (VTSG) as a professional services organization with a laser focus on Infrastructure and Software Development. From their work at their current jobs, they identified a gap in the ability to evaluate and source Information Technology Professionals who are the cornerstone of every successful business. Exploiting this gap created a value proposition to find IT professionals of higher value coupled with significant cost savings to clients. They originally planned to focus on providing IT services, but discovered that it was difficult to obtain those contracts while working full time. They discovered, however, that they could launch an IT staffing firm first. They filed the company as an LLC in February 2014 and spent the rest of the year putting their platform and processes in place. Danny and Carl contacted Crystal Darby at the San Antonio Small Business Development Center for assistance with expanding their small business. She met with them to assist with marketing and provided them with direction on government contracting.
They met business advisor Crystal Darby and received assistance with marketing, including advice on their target market, website text, and social media. Crystal referred them to the Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) for help on government contracting and to the International Trade Center for advice on international staffing. During 2015 and 2016, the company took off and in 2017 they secured a large contract with Texas State University and have continued to grow each year. Since then, Crystal has served as a sounding board for their projects and provided direction for them on marketing and government contracting. They have expanded their services and now provide managed services and installation as well as customized software solutions and IT staffing. For their expansion, VTSG secured a line of credit from a local lender and retained jobs. They anticipate an increase in sales.
“With the help of Crystal at the SBDC, we were led in a path that allowed us to learn, grow and execute better than we were doing at the time.” Danny Pallone
